Another terrific sprint finish by Sarah Healy saw her nail second place in the 1,500 metres at the Meeting de Paris on Friday night, improving her lifetime best to 3:57.15 in the process.
On a perfect evening for running inside the Stade Charlety, the eighth stop on the Diamond League circuit, Healy might well have scored another victory too, as Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir just held on for the win in 3:57.02.
Just like she did in winning the European Indoor title over 3,000m last March, Healy bided her time over the last 150 metres, after holding sixth place at the bell. Entering the homestretch in third, she kicked past the top Ethiopian Birke Haylom, but just ran out of track when trying to run down Chepchirchir
Healy’s time improved her lifetime best of 3:57.46, clocked at the same meeting last year. Only Ciara Mageean’s Irish record of 3:55.87 from 2023 is faster, and that may well come under threat before the summer is out.
It was only Healy’s second outdoor 1,500m race this season, after she also produced a magnificent finishing kick to win the 1,500m at the Rome Diamond League a fortnight ago. The 24-year-old had already improved her 3,000m best to 8:27.02 in finishing third in the Rabat Diamond League last month.
Haylom held on for third in 3:57.50, with Healy’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell sixth in 3:58.06.
Mark English was also back on track just over a week after racing the 800m at the Oslo Diamond League, and the 32-year-old continued his rich vein of form over the distance with a sixth-place finish in 1:43.98 – breaking the 1:44-barrier for only the second time.
English did get slightly boxed at the back after the first lap, in another stacked field of 13 runners, moving up five places in the last 200m. Victory on the night went to Mohamed Attaoui from Spain in 1:42.73, just ahead of Josh Hoey from the US, who clocked 1:43.00 – and like English is also coached by Justin Rinaldi.
English broke the 1:44 barrier for the first time with his Irish record of 1:43.92 to take the win in Hengelo earlier this month, which smashed his previous Irish record of 1:44.34 which he set in Bydgoszcz, Poland last month.
Although Rhasidat Adeleke wasn’t racing in Paris, after back-to-back 400m races in Oslo and Stockholm where she finished fourth and sixth respectively, she’ll no doubt have watched the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino make her Diamond League season debut.
Paulino produced a stunning victory and meeting record time of 48.81 seconds, improving the mark of 49.12 she set here two years ago. The Olympic champion finished strongest of all, getting past her old rival Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain, second in the Olympics last summer, who clocked 48.85, with newcome Martina Weil from Chile also breaking 50 seconds to nail third in 49.83, a national record.
Azeddine Habz also delighted the Paris crowd when winning the 1,500m in a French record of 3:27.49, the top-six all running sub-3:30. Jimmy Gressier followed that with a French record in the 5,000m, running 12:51.59 to finish fourth behind Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia, who won in 12:47.84. The World Championships in Tokyo may still be just under three months away, but times are fast heating up.
